Generation of vapor.



No. 865,725. PATENTED SEPT. 10, 1907. H. MLPOPE & H. P. MAXIM.

GENERATION 0F VAPOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29. 1897. v

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

@ ZZLwZM No. 865,725. PATENTED SEPT. 10,1907.

' H. M. POPE & H, P. MAXIM.

GENERATION 0F VAPOR. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29. 1897.

2 SHEETSwSHEET 2.

.t'rn sTArss PAT-ET OFFICE.

HARRY M. POPE AND HIRAM PERCY MAXIM, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS, BY

MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY,

'AND NEW YORK, N..Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

GENERATION oF var-n.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed M11929, 1897. Serial No, 642,799 a Y I To all whom it may concern: 1

Be 'it known that-we, HARRY M. Porn and HIRAM PERCY MAXIM, both citizens of the UnitedSt-ats, and residents oi the city and county of Hartford, in 5 the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Generation of Vapor,

of which the following is a spe'citication,reierence be-.

Our primary object has been to dispense with the v e 1 5 cumbersome boiler which is commonly used at present in the generation of steam and must carry a large 'quantity of water and-must receive careful and ir'itelli gent attention at all times, and also to dispense with,"

i the furnaces and other forms'of boiler heaters now commonly employed, which also require careful and in- I i i sion, since all of such parts, considered separately, may

telligent attention.

It has also been our object to makethe apparatus in which our invention may be embodied perfectly safe.

and free from danger to person or property, even in the hands of the unintelligent or mechanically unskilful.

Still another object has been to make the practice of A our inventiomwhen embodied in suitablemechanical devices, practicallyautomatic, so that the supply of vapor shall at all times be preportioned to thedemand- 3 0 therefor, in whatevermanner the vapor may be used.

We have developed our invention with espe'cial referncejo the use of the vapor'inan engine or motor of some kind, such as are nowoperated by steam from a boiler or by successive explosio of a suitable gas or gaseous mixture, although we do not intend to limit our invention to the development of power, since the 'vapor generated may be used for any one of a great variety of special purposes.

Explosive engines, of any one of several well known 40 forms also make it possible to dispense with boilers, but, as is well understood, they are open to serious objections; the walls of the explosionchamber become heated to such a hightemperature that much' of the energy transformed into heat is wasted-either by direct 4'5 radiation or by absorption by a water jacket or other means employed to keep the temperature of the walls 7 of. the explosion chamber within reasonable-limits, whereby the efiiciency of the engine or other prime mover is correspondingly reduced; furthermore, the: r initial pressure of -the-exploding gasor'gaseous mix ture' and the peculiarities of the expansion ofsuch gas of motion with efficiency? uniformity and accuracy. Steam, on the contrary, has vast advantages in a prime pansion and by reason of thephysical qualities which render it adaptable to a wide range of uses and controllable with comparative ease. Of the two sources of power steam is therefore generally preferred and would be in all cases but for the bulkiness of the generatorand its inefliciency.

I Patented Sept. 10, I907.

moverby reason of the absence of peculiarities of ex- We have sought to overcome, as far as possible, the objections incident to the use either of steam or of an explosive gas or'gaseous mixture, while combining the advantages of both, and our invention accordingly consists in certain general features of construction, as

explained hereinafter.

For the purpose of explaining our invention we have illustrated in the accompanying drawing one form of an apparatus in which our said'invention may-be embodied, no attemptbeing made to represent the parts of the apparatus in detail or with mechanical precibe of ordinary construction andarrangement and,

moreover, since any one ar great 'variety of mechan ical arrangements may be employed in the practice'of other parts are represented in plan; Fig. 2 is an exa'g gerated perspective view of the'shaft shown in Fig. 1

and the parts carried by it, showing the relations of i such part s. Fig. 3 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, of-a device which maybe employed for the admission of water at the roper instant.

In the apparatus chosen for illustration of our invender pressure is shown as an air compressorcomprising a cylinderA in which a piston A is'reciprocated by suitable connections to a crank B of a shaft B.

. desired} but in the form of apparatus shown we prefer the employmentjoi two separate explosion chambers and their respective co-a'cting parts," 7 j i A valve D, having by-p'asses a, is arranged to'control the ports a d and is .operated through suitable connections by an eccentric or cam b on the shaft .B, to open and close the said ports at the proper time. t

Each chamber C is provided-with a fluid fuel suption and illustrated in the drawing a source of air unply, represented by the pipe E, through which the erated by hand or by any other suitable means.

carbon, is delivered at the proper time and in proper quan'tity to form an explosive compound in the chamher. A water supply is also connected to the explosion chamber, being represented in the drawing by a pipe F'th rough whichthe requisite quantity of water," preferably in a condition of pulverization, is delivered to said chamber. An igniter, represented at G, which may be of any suitable kind, is also provided for the purpose of producing the explosion in the explosion chamber at the proper instant. The fuel-supply, the water supply and the igniter may be controlled or op- A form of means which may be employed for the supply of fuel, and for the control of suchsupply. is shown in Letters Patent of the United States No, 606 425 granted June 28, 1898 upon the application of the above-mentinned H. P. Maxim, and to such Letters Patent referonce may be had fora fuller description of such means.

Means for the admission of water at. the proper instant which have been contemplated in the present case are represented in detail. in Fig. 3 of the drawings, being merely indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1.

As represented in Fig. 3, the Water supply pipe F communicates with a chamber f which in turn communicates with the interior of the explosion chamber C and receives a plunger f whiclnis pressed normally toward the explosion chamber and against its seat by a spring f". The plunger is bored longitudinally, as at f, and is provided with a check valve f and a spray nozzle f'". A check valve f is also interposed between the pipe F and the chamber f. When the explosion takes place in thechamber O, the spring f is compressed by the pressure against the face or head of the plunger f and a small quantity of water is forced into the bore ofthe plunger and is discharged into the explosion chamber as fine spray or in a condition of pulverization immediately after the explosion takes place) The operation of the igniter is as usual in motors of the type referred to and need not be further explained herein.

Each explosion chamber is provided with two outlets, one being through the port 0, intermediate chamher 6- and exhaust port 0 to theopen'air, while the other is through a port h to another chamber K. The exhaust port or channel 0 r"is controlled by a valve D, which may be operated by suitable connections from an eccentric or cam b on the shaft B, and the port h is controlled by avalve D' which may be operated by suitable connectionsfrom an eccentric or cam b on the shaft ll, said valve having a suitable by-pass h foreach port h. The chamber K is shown as a cylinder having a piston K which is reciprocated by suitable connections from a crank B of the shaft B. Ports k at the respective ends of said cylinder K communicate with a explosion chambers C andv is there mixed with he proper quantity of hydro-carbon from a source of supply indicated by the pipe E, orthe explosive mixture or compound or substance of whatever nature is otherwise introduced into the explosion chamber, the port a being then closed by the valve D. The mixture or compound or other substance of Whatever nature in the explosion chamber is then exploded by a spark from an igniter, as at G, or by any other suitable means, and simultaneously therewith, or preferably an instant thereafter, so that the maximum amount of heat shall be generated byithe explosion, a proper quantity of water is introduced into the explosion chamber, it being desirable for the best results that the water shall be in a state of very fine pulverization. The waterso introduced is instantly converted into steam and the explosion chamber then contains a steam-like vapor composed of the steam and the products of combustion of the hydrocarbon. The quantity of water to be introduced will depend upon the amount of heat developed by the explosion, and it will be evident that if the quantity of waterbe regulated within reasonable limits. not only will a quantity of steam-like vapor be generated and a available either for immediate use or for storage, but

the heat developed by the explosion'will be absorbed v by the water and the loss of heat and c'onsequent'loss of efficiency through radiation through the walls of the explosion chamber orthrough absorption by a water jacket will be reduced to a minimum and will become practically a negligible quantity.

As stated above, the steam-like vapor generated in the explosion chamber in the manner described, be-

comes immediately available for use, but though available, it could not be pmcticallyutilized except with proper provision for its transfer or further storage preparatory to application to a prime mover or the like. As the great advantage in the use of steampor like elastic fluid, is its flexibility in consumption or application, its generation must be followed by proper storing, or conducting in order to obtain that advantage.

' We provide for, its removal from the explosion chamber stroke, As the piston recedes and the valve-D opens the port h (immediately after the water is introduced), the vapor generated in the explosion chamber exhausts into the cylinder K and expands therein as the receding piston K leaves a larger space The parts are preferably so proportioned that when the piston K reaches the other limit of its stroke the vapor in the cylinder K is reduced approximately to atmospheric pressure, so that when the valve D closes the port h, which now takes place, only a relatively small quantity of the generated vapor remains in the explosion chamber.

During its next forward movement the piston K recompre ses the vapor in the ,cylinder K and, the port it beingopened by the valve D drives the vapor into the reservoir R, where it can be stored and, if necessary,

be kept at high pressure by reheating, and from whichit can be drawn as required for the operation of the engine or other prime mover or for any other desired pur- I which remains in the explosion chamber after the closing of the port h by the valve D the parts are arranged and operate, in the apparatus represented in the draw- I I ing, as will now be described. The piston A in the v 5 cylinder A is a little in the lead of the piston K in the i cylinder K and therefore has returned slightly from the end of its stroke at the time when the vapor in the explosion chamber 0 and in the cylinder K has been reduced approximately to atmospheric pressure and after l O the valve D has closed. 7 The port a is then opened by the valve D 'andascavenging puff of the air already slightly compressed in the cylinder A is allowed to pass through the port a into the explosion chamber C and V out through the exhaust port or channel 0 0 which has been opened by the m0\ement of the valvel), carrying Wlthlt the vapor which remains in the explosion chamber C. This scavenging is accomplished very quickly and the scavenger valv'e D closes the exhaust channel 0 a very soon after it was opened, so that the compression of the air in the explosion chamberC, by reason of its communication with the cylinder A is immediately carried on to the 'pointjnecessary for producing the best results when the next explosion'takes place,

The introduction of the hydro-carbon into the explosion chamber G Horn the supply E may take place sistated above.

It will be understood that although the method of generation may be carried 'on successfully with a single explosion chamber and its adjuncts, better results may be produced by the use oitwo explosion chambers, as

represented, because the vapor is being expanded on one side'of the piston K while on the other side it is being. recompressed and driven into the reservoir R,

. whereby the loss dueto the expansion and recompression of the vapor amounts only to the aggregate of the 40 slight heat losses, the friction and the necessary power consumed in the generator, which is only that used in the compression of the air It will further be understood that the-shaft shown in the drawing serves as a convenient means or connection for. promoting or effect- 4 5 ing the movements of the parts oftheapparatus in necessary relation and may be replaced by other devices.

It will be evident that when the pressure in the reservoir is reduced by reason of large drafts upon it, the, resistance to recompression in front of the advancing piston K will be correspondingly low, so that as the demand is increased, the generatorautomatically speeds up and supplies vapor more rapidly to make up for the draft upon the reservoir. On the other hand, when the pressure inthe reservoir R is comparatively high, the

5 5 resistance to recoinpressi on in front of the advancing pis- .60 vapor is being drawn from the reservoir, the pressure therein rapidly increases and when it has reached a point at which the resistance to the forward movement of the piston K: is equal to the driving power, the gen- ,erator is stalled and the generation of vapor ceases.

(iii The vapor, however, is kept under pressure in the resstarted as oftenas may be desired, and for a long or I shortperiodof time as may be required. Under these conditions it becomes possible to start up the motor at 7 any moment and to obviate the necessity, as in ordinary'explosive engines, of keeping the motor running 'and of effecting a disconnection between the motor and the driven part when it is desired to stop for a short time. v It will now be understood that we do not intend to restrict ourselves to the precise details of construction and arrangement herein shown and described, as such construction and arrangement have been chosen merely for purposes of explanation of the general nature of our said invention. v 1

We claim as our invention 1. An apparatus for generating and storing vapor comprising two explosion chambers, means for supplying an explosive mixture to each of said explosion chambers, an igniter and a Water supply for each of said explosion chamhers, a cylinder having one ofsaid' explosion chambers connected thereto at one end and the other at the other end, a compressing piston in said cylinder and a reservoir con nected to said cylinder, into which the piston forces the gases of explosion.

2. An. apparatus for generating vapor comprising an explosion chamber, means for supplying hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber,'an ign'iter, a water supply. an

air compressor connected to said explosion chamber, a

valve interposed between said air compressor and said explosion chamber means to operate said valve, whereby said valve is opened after the explosion and a pufif of air is admitted to the explosion charnber to clear out said chamber,

and an independentexhaustport for such scavenging puff 3. An apparatus for generating vapor comprising an ex plosion chamber, means for supplying hydro-carbon vapor, to said'chamber, an ignite'r, a water supply, an air com-' pressoi' connected to said chamber, a cylinder connected to said chamber, a piston in said cylinder, a shaft opera tively connected to said piston, a valve between said air compressor and said chamber and a scavenger valvefor said chamber-both of said valves being operativly connected to said shaft.

4. An apparatus for generating and storing vapor comprising two explosion chambers, means for supplying an'explosive mixture to said chamber, an igniter and a water supply for each of said chambers, a cylinder having one of said chambers connected thereto at one end and the other at the other end, a-compressing piston in said chamber and a: shaft operatively connected to said piston, and a reservoir connected toopposite ends of said cylinder, into which the piston forces the gases of explosion.

5. An apparatus for generating and storing vapor comprising 'two explosion chambers, means for supplying hy dro-carbon vapor to said chambers, an igniter and. a water supply for each of said chambers, a; cylinder having one of. saidlexplosion chambersconnected thereto at one end and theother at the other end, a compressing. piston in said cylinder, a shaft operatively connected to said piston and an air compressor connected to each of said explosion chambers and operatively connected to said shaft and a reservoir connected to opposite ends of said cylinder, into which the piston fprces the gases of explosion:

6. An apparatus for generating vapor comprising an explosion chamber, means for supplyinghydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber," an igniteiyla water supply, an

air compressor connected to said explosion chamber, a

valve interposed between'said air compressor and said explosion chamber, means to operate said valve, whereby said valve is opened after the explosion and a puff of air is admitted to the explosion chamber a separate valve for the discharge of such scavenging puff of air to clear out said chamber and means for etfecting proper relative movement of the moving parts.

7. An apparatus for generating vapor comprising an explosion chamber, meansfor supplying hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber, an igniter, means for introducing \vaterinto said chamber upon the explosion, a discharge valve means to operate said discharge valve, a chamber to receive the vapor from the first-named chamber and to permit it to expand therein, and means to recompress such vapor.

8. An apparatus for generating vapor comprising an explosion chamber, means for supplying hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber, an igniter, means for introducing water into said chamber upon the explosion, a discharge wrlve, means to operate said discharge valve, a chamber to receive the vapor from the first-named chamber and to permit it to expand therein, means to re-compress such vapor, and a reservoir to receive the re-c0mpresscd vapor.

9. An apparatus for generating vapor comprising an ex plosion chamber, means for supplying: hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber, an igniter, means for periodically introducing water into said chamber upon the explosion, a discharge valve,- means to operate said discharge valve and keep it closed at predetermined times, a chamber to receive the vapor through said discharge valve, an air compressor, a scavenging valve, and means to operate said s avenging valve, whereby a pulf of air is discharged through said explosion chamber independently of the second chamber.

10, An apparatus for generating vapor comprising an explosion chamber, means for supplying hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion-chamber, a periodically operative igniter, means for periodically introducing water into said chamber upon the explosion, a chamber to receive 'the vapor from the explosion chamber, two separate discharge valves from said explosion chamber, one connecting with t'he sec- 0nd chamber, and means for operating said discharge valves separately.

11. An apparatus for generating; vapor comprisinga periodically sealed explosion chamber, means for supplying hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber, an igniter, means for introducing water into said chamber upon the explosion, a second chamber to receive the vapor from the explosion chamber, and a storage reservoir to receive the vapor from the second chamber V 12. An apparatus for generating vapor comprising lln explosion chamber, means for supplying hydro-carbon vapor to said explosion chamber, an igniter,-means for in- .55

HARRY M. Porn. IIIRAM runey MAXIM.

In the presence of- Amman 1'. DAY, llmnmNx l CuN'rz. 

